Our Tokios
by Blue Jeans
Summary: A tribute to Tokio, a most mysterious woman.


Disclaimer: I don't own Our Kenshins, Our Kaorus, Our Sanos, Our Megumis, and not even Our   
Saitous because they belong to Nobuhiro Watsuki-san. Saitou is a part of history, but Tokio   
is so much more because Nobuhiro-san never made her his character. Hence, she's a part of   
time and a part of mine and all author's imaginations. I would like to thank all the   
authors who wrote such wonderful stories concerning her and her wild, amber-eyed wolf ^_~  
  
Our Tokios  
**********  
. blue .  
. blueweber@hotmail.com .  
. http://www.megspace.com/arts/colorblue/aoi.html/ .  
  
She was a mystery from the very beginning.  
  
We found her in one fragment of evidence that declared her existence and then suddenly,   
without prompting, she came into life all by herself. She made her phantom appearance on   
the trail to Kyoto, years after her own adventures had all began. By that time she already   
had children, and a husband who was rarely home -- though she still loved him just as much   
as ever. Still she was able to endure on her own without hesitation or regrets.  
  
We imagined her as geishas and samurai-daughters, spies and consorts, because we knew she   
had strength far greater than any average man or woman. We gave her a sword, a kodachi, a   
naginata, and more, but still she persists to amaze us by going further with not just metal   
and steel but her heart and her grace and her wit. We dressed her up as a princess, and   
sometimes even masked her into becoming a man, but only for a short while because   
eventually... eventually she falls in love. But we did all of this anyway just to see what   
she'd do and where she could go. Even so, she never failed in going that extra mile just to   
see the look on our faces when she was finished with us.  
  
She was sometimes more foolish and rash than even the Tanuki, with enough of a temper to   
match Our Saitous ruthlessness. She was sometimes elegant and calm, hiding her true   
abilities behind a beautiful smile and a modest bow, but even then we could not ignore the   
extent of her stubborness. She would defy the laws of society, taking up the blade and   
taking up the responsibilities that many thought was only meant for a man. But she showed   
them how much better she was than any other candidate they could come up with, man or woman!   
And if they still turned a blind eye to her bravery and tact, we could not.  
  
After defying demons, facing down with Our Kenshins in the dark streets of past-Kyotos, and   
sometimes even clashing swords with Our Saitous -- probably because of another pointless   
argument -- she still came out with a cheerful smile and an unbreakable will to go on to the   
next adventure. We made her more cleverly devious than the Megitsune herself, and had her   
flirt with enough men to drive Our Saitous up the wall with frustration and possessiveness   
just so she could see that he really did love her and care for her, or just to prove to that   
stubborn man of hers exactly what kind of power she had over him while she secretly admitted   
the same was true for herself.  
  
We had her play the innocent, the part missing in Our Saitous lives. Watching her with the   
same amusement as her sarcastic, and sometimes even sadistic, husband, who soon found   
himself unable to do aught else but love her no matter how much he denied it to himself. We   
played games and bets just too see if he would ever say it to her face, sometimes we drove   
her insane too just to see the look on Our Saitous face when he found himself in such   
unusual traps and evil plots and other "interesting" situations in the domestic home that he   
probably never imagined himself in.  
  
She was rarely careless without cause, and she always fought for what she believed in, even   
if it meant going head-to-head with Our Saitous, and only then did we discover how brave she   
truly was. We called her names, not all of them nice or complimentary behind her back, and   
Our Saitous were no exception to the crime. We laughed at what Our Kenshins, Our Kaorus,   
Our Megumis and Our Sanosukes came up with when they stumbled upon the fact that Our Saitous   
was married to her. But always we got the impression that if she knew she would find this   
far more amusing than anything else we could come up with, but she never did more than hide   
her smile when she did.  
  
We made her bossy, but she couldn't help being that way after we had given her the task of   
having Our Saitous as her husband. Later we came to envy her for the softer side he showed   
to her alone, and if he wasn't in the mood for that, we envied her for the entertainment she   
got out of him while she pushed all of his buttons just for the fun of it and somehow   
getting away with it without a hair harmed on her head. Who'd have thought that in the end   
it would be a woman that Our Saitous would be reluctantly forced onto his knees before, eh?   
But she would only smile another mysterious smile for us and leave us to figure out how she   
was able to do what no one else had been able to, not even Our Kenshins, even though   
everyone knew how legendary the rivalry between those two were like.  
  
We watched with aching hearts as she lost her family, her clan, her friends, her lovers, her   
children, her life, and sometimes even Our Saitous! Still she fought back with teeth and   
claws and whatever else she had, refusing to give in simply because that was what was   
decided for her. She had given up titles, honor and her identities, just so she could join   
Our Saitous and give him the support he needed when he finally came around to realizing   
exactly how much he needed her. And even though he wasn't always there for her, and even   
though he might never have expressed to her how much she held his heart, she still remained   
his one, constant comfort; she was the home that he returned to.  
  
Yet one aspect was consistently true: She made Our Saitous more human in our eyes than   
anyone else could. She was his saya whether or not she loved him and when she did, she did   
it in such a way that we could not help but love him with her. She saw him, all of him and   
accepted the killer, the man, and the father of her children with a smile of knowing on her   
lips. Through her we found them both to be equally complex, loyal, devious, sarcastic, and   
witty, as well as unusually insightful and unexpectedly kind.  
  
She loyally stood by him in the shadows, never once feeling the need to reveal her face to   
anyone but him. Her silent presence advocated to all what he was, is and still stands for,   
louder than any words she could have spoken (though she may not always choose to be silent).   
We made her Our Saitous' weakness, yet she always ended up being his strength. There was no   
mistaking it, but in the end her spirit amazed us all.  
  
Just one sentence began it all. We are still amazed at how far one line had taken us and   
how many different dimensions she gained through a tiny slip of the tongue from Our Saitous.   
And still we ask ourselves: How did this happen? When did she come into our lives so   
silently and leave such a mark? And through her we learned to see Our Saitous in ways we   
could never have imagined possible untill she came along.  
  
She started out as a mystery and we turned her inside out and outside in just to see what   
she was made of. And yet, still, she hides behind her paper fan with her eyes alight with   
merriment at our clumsy attempts to discover her again and again through a million different   
tinted glasses; trying to unravel the mystery that is her.  
  
All it took was a line, and we were hooked.  
  
  
.The End.  
  
. blue .  
. blueweber@hotmail.com .  
. http://www.megspace.com/arts/colorblue/aoi.html/ .  
  
Saya - sheath  
Tanuki - Raccoon (But Mara-san informs me that it really means "badger" and my on-line  
japanese/english dictionary declares it to be "raccoon dog" so I think Mara-san's  
probably right, considering the culture, but if you want to think of it as nothing  
but a raccoon, be my guest ^_^v It IS the most popular version.)  
Megitsune - Fox  
Kodachi - Like a Katana only shorter  
Naginata - Traditional choice of weapon for wives/daughters of samurai family  
Tanto - A type of dagger; think "mini"-katana  
  
. blue .  
. blueweber@hotmail.com .  
. http://www.megspace.com/arts/colorblue/aoi.html/ .  
  
Thanks to dementedchris for giving me the idea and looking over this when I finished it. I  
kept it for a long time and I wasn't sure if it was good enough and whether or not I was   
good enough to write it. I must thank Mara for giving me her approval of it after I finished   
it and also looking over it for me and liking my translation for tanto's. I'm taking a   
chance with this and maybe took a bite off a bit more than I can chew ^_^v I hope you   
enjoyed it!  
  
Stories that were mentioned here:  
1. "The Other Side of Twilight" and "Night-Painted Hearts" by Fuu-chan (not available on   
ff.net)  
2. All Mara's Saitou/Tokio or just plain Tokio's stories  
3. Sleeping With the Wolf by aki  
4. Wolf's Blood  
5. JIA Case Files 2: Boulevard of Las Vegas by Istoria  
  
And much, much more who's names I can't recall but can be found on the site:  
http://www.miburo.com/fanstuff/fiction.html  
  
and even stories not on that site, but a few at http://www.nabiki.com/nichan/archive/ like   
Mirai No Yakusoku. Gosh, I can't name them all and I'm sure there are ones I've yet to read   
^_^;; but I think I've crammed a little of each into this short, short fic.  
  
Yeah, I know, I probably didn't cover all of the Tokio stories. But I've re-read Our   
Kenshins and Our Kaorus by dementedchris and also Mara's Our Saitous and realized, maybe its   
not being able to cover all of Tokio stories, but just giving a bit of her and letting the   
rest of you readers go rediscover her on your own and maybe come to love her as us   
Tokio-fans do. ^_^v I hoped you enjoyed!  
  
. blue .  
. blueweber@hotmail.com .  
. http://www.megspace.com/arts/colorblue/aoi.html/ . 


End file.
